FORT WORTH, Texas — Kyle Busch already has two Sprint Cup wins in 2013, surpassing his total number of Cup victories in 2012. In fact, it surpasses his total number of wins in all of NASCAR’s national series in 2012.

So in some ways, his win in the NRA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday night was a sign that he has put the disappointing 2012 season behind him.

But it also could be said that he put his biggest career blemish behind him as well with the win at the track where his career nearly unraveled.

Busch was suspended for the Nationwide Series and Cup races at Texas Motor Speedway in November 2011 after intentionally wrecking Ron Hornaday under caution during the truck race that opened the NASCAR weekend.

By winning a Cup race for the first time at Texas, Busch could put any lingering angst about the track and the incident to rest. Not only did he win at Texas, he won while driving the Interstate Batteries-sponsored car, an important side note that has significance dating back to the Busch suspension.

The Dallas-based company has been aligned with Joe Gibbs Racing since it started racing in 1992, and Busch’s victory Saturday was a reward for company chairman Norm Miller.

It was Miller who steadfastly backed Busch after the suspension by putting Interstate Batteries on his No. 18 car after M&M’s pulled out for the final two events of 2011.

“Norm wasn't going to let that car go the rest of the year without colors on it, so he put his on it,” Busch said. “It takes true character (to do that).”

Busch has done his best to improve his character and regain some respect since the suspension.

Team owner Joe Gibbs said he saw that character last year when Busch failed to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup. There was Busch’s criticism of Toyota when his engine expired during the race at Dover, but beyond that, Busch appeared to handle not making the Chase as well as could be expected.

“Last year at the end of the year, Kyle probably had some of the most bitter disappointments, I think, that's happened to us in 22 years,” Gibbs said.

“We missed the Chase. We had Watkins Glen won, get to the last lap and get in somebody else's oil. We had some issues mechanically during the year that cost us. … (He) showed real maturity, and I think that kind of set the course for this year.”

This year, Busch not only has two Cup wins already but he has four Nationwide wins driving for JGR. Last year, driving for his own Nationwide team, Busch went winless in the series.

That just added to the frustration, or the funk of 2012, as Busch likes (or dislikes) to call it.

“With last year's frustrations and everything and coming down to that race (to make the Chase) in Richmond, we didn't execute that as we needed to,” Busch said. “But we learned from that one. We put that in the memory bank and we talked about it a lot.

“Through the last 10 weeks (of 2012), I felt like we did a lot of things right, and there were probably a couple things we could have done even better yet.”

Though he didn’t make the Chase, Busch was the hottest driver on the circuit at the end of the season. He had eight top-10 finishes in the 10 Chase races, including seven top-fives and four straight to end the season.

It wasn’t an easy road for Busch and crew chief Dave Rogers.

“Dave and him went through some real tough things, and they have some of the most frank conversations, and they'll both get fired up and get after each other,” said Gibbs, the Hall of Fame NFL coach. “But I think that's all part of sports.”

The two victories (Busch won earlier this season at California) this year put him in prime position to return to the Chase. He has five straight top-five finishes and is third in the standings. As long as he stays in the top 20, he likely would have a wild-card spot to fall back on if he drops out of the top 10 in points.

“Winning two races so far this year, you'd say that's a lock,” Busch said. “But anything can happen. We've still got some work to do to get better at some of the tracks that we did struggle at last year, and we know that.

“One is coming up next week (in Kansas), so that's going to be a battle for us just making sure we've got a good handling car and one that I can drive and push hard and make speed of because that asphalt is pretty new there.”